FACULTY
NCCU Technology Law & Policy Center
Inaugural Law and Technology Summit
October 14-15, 2022
Speaker and FACULTy bio's
Inaugural Law And Technology Summit
October 14-15, 2022
keynote speakerS
Eva Almirantearena Eva Almirantearena is Vice President, Associate General Counsel, Antitrust and Commercial Litigation at Intel Corporation. Eva has been with Intel since 2004, mainly in the Litigation Group, handling a wide variety of matters, including antitrust litigation and investigations, commercial litigation and misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets. Eva is Intel Legal’s Diversity and Inclusion Leader, a member of Intel Legal’s Diversity & Inclusion Steering Committee and leads Intel Legal’s Outside Counsel Diversity & Inclusion Program team. She is also co-chair of Intel Legal’s Pro Bono Committee. Prior to joining Intel, Eva was an antitrust partner at Howrey in Northern California and, before that, was a trial attorney at the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
Siobhan Grady Siobahn is the first woman computer science Ph.D. graduate from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (2018). She is an assistant professor of information science/systems in the School of Library and Information Sciences at North Carolina Central University, Program Director for the Information Science program, Lab Director for the Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence and Equity Research (LAIER), Co-Director for the Center fOr Data Equity (CODE), an AAAS IF/THEN ambassador, and an Office e-Learning faculty fellow at North Carolina Central University. Her research focuses on utilizing machine learning to identify sources of misinformation on social media and on improving fault detection in autonomous vehicles. Dr. Grady advocates increasing the number of women and minorities in computer science. She believes that “the STEM workforce has both gender disparities and that of historically disenfranchised groups. As an AAAS IF/THEN ambassador, she affects change by examining girls’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors, helping them gain confidence in curating and developing a STEM identity.” Additionally, Dr. Grady has been featured in museums throughout the nation, has spoken at national and international conferences, serves on multiple boards, and is featured as a statue in the world’s largest exhibit of women’s statues. Technology is the way of the future, and Dr. Grady has a vision for minority girls’ and women’s futures. She realizes that vision by providing educational opportunities through community organizations, philanthropic efforts, college courses, and research grants and publications.
Philip Hampton Philip G. Hampton, II, a senior partner with more than four decades of experience as an IP lawyer, serves as Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer. In this position, he works collaboratively with the Board of Directors to establish the firm’s diversity and inclusion strategy, including setting and monitoring goals for recruiting, retaining and advancing diverse legal professionals. He leads diversity-related activities and firm resource groups and subcommittees.
Phil has been involved in diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives for most of his professional career. He has mentored dozens of minority and female IP students and young lawyers. While serving as the Assistant Commissioner for Trademark in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) during the Clinton Administration, minority attorneys increased by more than 400%. He proposed innovative solutions to foster diversity and inclusion, for which two of his former firms were awarded the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s esteemed Thomas L. Sager Award. Phil is a former President and Scholarship Committee Chairman of Foundation for the Advancement of Diversity in Intellectual Property Law (FADIPL). In 2016, Phil was the inaugural recipient of the Diversity in Tech Award presented by the IP Section of the National Bar Association. Phil also teaches Trademark Law at Howard University School of Law, where he has served as an adjunct professor for more than a decade. While serving as the Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Phil is an active member of Polsinelli’s Intellectual Property Department. Phil’s decades of experience in patent and trademark litigation, patent and trademark counseling, trademark prosecution, enforcement, maintenance and licensing of all types of intellectual property, are valuable to less established department members. He has been an expert witness in almost three dozen trademark infringement actions and has served as a Special Master in several patent infringement actions for the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Phil has been involved in patent and trademark litigation in U.S. district courts, mini-trials, ITC Section 337 hearings, and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board opposition and cancellation proceedings. He always seeks creative, cost-effective solutions to his client’s legal problems. Phil has prepared, filed, and prosecuted U.S. and foreign patent applications, and he has also prepared opinions regarding patentability, validity, and infringement issues. With his knowledge of the USPTO people and processes, Phil has conducted investigations of “atypical” prosecutions of patent applications within the USPTO. Phil has represented U.S. and foreign clients in many capacities for trademark law, including preparing, filing and prosecuting trademark applications, preparing trademark opinion letters, preparing and filing appeals to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and conducting opposition and cancellation proceedings. Also, during his tenure at the USPTO, Phil oversaw the reengineering of the agency. He promulgated almost 200 Commissioner’s Decisions and oversaw the first new edition of the Manual of Trademark Examining Procedure in almost ten years. Phil received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from MIT and his J.D. degree from the University of Chicago Law School.
Mimi Afshar Professor Mimi Afshar is the Director of the NCCU Intellectual Property (IP) Clinic, and the supervising patent and trademark attorney for the IP Clinic. Prof. Afshar brings almost 18 years of combined private-practice and outside counsel experience to NCCU’s Intellectual Property department, including experience as a chemical engineer in the pharmaceutical industry. She possesses diverse expertise in the areas of intellectual property, patents, trademarks, and licensing. Professor Afshar has represented technology & pharmaceutical clients in intellectual property counseling and patent prosecution. She has also provided patent counseling and prosecution expertise to independent inventors. Her pro bono representation includes assisting entrepreneurs with patent and trademark matters. Prof. Afshar received her BS Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, CA. Prof. Afshar received her LLM in Law and Technology from the University of California at Berkeley Law School. She is a Registered US Patent Attorney, and is admitted to the USPTO Patent Bar. She is admitted to the California State Bar, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the United States District Court-Southern District of California. 
Mark Atkinson Is a second career attorney. Duke undergrad ’86. 4 years in US Navy. 25 years in consulting. NCCU JD ’20. I have a short attention span so I like working with new ideas, entrepreneurs and solving problems. Married with 4 adult kids.
Eva Almirantearena Eva Almirantearena is Vice President, Associate General Counsel, Antitrust and Commercial Litigation at Intel Corporation. Eva has been with Intel since 2004, mainly in the Litigation Group, handling a wide variety of matters, including antitrust litigation and investigations, commercial litigation and misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets. Eva is Intel Legal’s Diversity and Inclusion Leader, a member of Intel Legal’s Diversity & Inclusion Steering Committee and leads Intel Legal’s Outside Counsel Diversity & Inclusion Program team. She is also co-chair of Intel Legal’s Pro Bono Committee. Prior to joining Intel, Eva was an antitrust partner at Howrey in Northern California and, before that, was a trial attorney at the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
Dennis Barnes Dennis Barnes is a Managing Director at Dovetail Consulting Group. He has over 20 years of experience serving life sciences companies both as an external resource evaluating and testing the effectiveness of compliance programs, and as an internal member of the senior management team charged with building and implementing compliance programs, leading risk management initiatives, and serving as an independent voice reporting directly to Boards of Directors. Dennis served as the Vice President of Global Governance, Risk & Compliance at Mayne Pharma where he was responsible for building and implementing the US Healthcare Compliance Program, and developing and executing a global risk management program, among other responsibilities. Before joining Mayne Pharma, Dennis served as Vice President, Global Compliance Officer for PAREXEL International Inc., the second largest clinical research organization (CRO) in the world, where he focused on partnering with key global pharmaceutical clients to support their compliance with important elements of their Corporate Integrity Agreements and Deferred Prosecution Agreements. Dennis managed three teams while at PAREXEL, including a US Spend Reporting Team, a US Third Party Due Diligence Team and a Global Third-Party Due Diligence Team located in Hyderabad, India. Dennis earned a BA in Economics from Bucknell University, a JD from the University of Notre Dame School of Law, and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, McCombs Graduate School of Business. Dennis is also a Certified Public Accountant, licensed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Earlier this year, Dennis earned the Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) designation and the Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM) designation from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and has begun helping his clients work toward privacy solutions within their compliance programs.
Roderick Brown Mr. Brown formerly served as LNLP Interim Head of UK Legal and is currently LNLP NA Senior Counsel and Director. He previously served as Senior Corporate Counsel at HCL America, Inc., and Senior Counsel at Murphy Wesley & Harlan (formerly Gonzalez, Saggio, and Harlan), where his focus areas were, and still remain, supporting and negotiating complex customer and procurement commercial transactions, intellectual property, product development, alliances and channel partnering, software and data licensing, cloud computing, Software as a Service, and mergers and acquisitions. He also served as Vice President of Business Development and General Counsel for FDR Inc., a boutique government contracting organization that focused on technical and specialized military training. Mr. Brown is a graduate of North Carolina Central University School of Law. He enjoys traveling, outdoor activities, research, sports, and team enhancing activities.
Leon T. Cain II Leon T. Cain II is a registered patent attorney whose practice includes patent preparation and prosecution before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Mr. Cain has extensive experience in all aspects of patent prosecution including U.S. and international patent applications, USPTO appeals, interviews, and Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) practice. Prior to joining Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions as Associate General Counsel, Mr. Cain was a patent associate at Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner which is a large mid-west intellectual property law firm, a Virginia/D.C. based patent boutique law firm, as well as a Research Triangle Park, NC based patent boutique law firm where he prosecuted patent applications for a variety of international clients in both large corporations and start-ups. Mr. Cain also worked as a primary patent examiner for the USPTO in Art Unit 2617. There, he examined patent applications in the areas of computer graphics, image processing, three-dimensional (3D) rendering, virtual gaming, and medical imaging devices. Mr. Cain serves as past chair and nominations committee chair for the North Carolina Bar Association Intellectual Property Law Section. He received his B.S. degree, cum laude, in Computer Science from South Carolina State University and his J.D. degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law.
Ashley Campbell Ashley Campbell is the CEO of Legal Aid of North Carolina. She represents the Tenth Judicial District (Wake County) on the North Carolina State Bar Council where she serves on the Access to Justice Standing Committee. She is a member of the Chief Justice’s Equal Access to Justice Commission and is the past president of the Wake County Bar Association and Tenth Judicial District Bar. Prior to moving to Legal Aid, Ashley was a clinical professor at Campbell Law School where she directed the Blanchard Community Law Clinic and taught trial advocacy. Ashley has been rated as a Best Lawyer in America in Commercial Litigation for many years. She earned both her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Maryam Casbarro Maryam Casbarro, Product Counsel for Uber, advises on membership issues and new product and business line launches. Her duties include conducting risk assessments for highly regulated items and product lines, coordinating global legal review of new initiatives, and helping the delivery business navigate complex regulatory issues. She also helps the business with strategies and playbooks during the execution of projects. Maryam started her career as a Securities and White-Collar litigator, before transitioning to cybersecurity and privacy at a large firm. She counseled and advised on cybersecurity best practices, drafted incident response plans, oversaw legal response after a breach had occurred, and assisted clients with privacy litigation strategies and government investigations and regulatory compliance.
Rachel Cash is the founder and CEO of Elroi Enterprise Inc, a tech startup focused on consumer and enterprise data privacy management. Elroi believe privacy is a right. To achieve our mission, Elroi is building a data economy where consumer have self sovereignty and Enterprise reach strategic compliance with over 130 privacy regulations.
attorney licensed in Michigan and specializing in data privacy. With over 10 years of business operation leadership and project management experience, Rachel has lead initiatives in regulatory compliance, technology development, STEM education, and government contracting. As one of the few black women-owned Technology Company Founder, Rachel is committed to innovation and bringing additional minorities into the technology and legal fields. Rachel holds a B.A. in English from the University of Memphis and a Juris Doctorates from North Carolina Central University School of Law.
Steven Cava Steven is an attorney and pharmacy consultant specializing in pharmacy operations, contract negotiation, compliance, and strategic development. Steven has twenty years of experience in pharmacy, including as director of operations for a high-volume pharmacy. Desiring to help pharmacists practice at the top of their license and improve access to quality care, Steven pursued a legal education, graduating from NCCU Law in 2018. Steven now serves a dual role for PharmaComplete Consulting Services as General Counsel and as a pharmacy consultant. In addition to working directly with pharmacies, Steven provides industry education on behalf of pharmacy vendors and associations and advocates for public policy initiatives to expand the scope and quality of pharmacy practice. Steven completed his undergraduate studies at Campbell University, earned his Juris Doctor from the North Carolina Central University School of Law, and is a member of the D.C. Bar.
Alysia Dagadu Alysia Dagadu has been with Meta Platform’s Reality Labs as AGC for 3 years. Alysia leads a team of lawyers in technology development of Meta’s innovative AR/VR products and peripherals. Prior to joining Meta, Alysia served as senior corporate counsel at Cisco Systems, Inc. supporting global supply chain operations and logistics. Alysia is a 2000 graduate from NCCU’s School of Law.
Ezekiel Dixon-Román Ezekiel Dixon-Román is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. His research seeks to make cultural and critical theoretical interventions toward rethinking and reconceptualizing the technologies and practices of quantification as mediums and agencies of systems of sociopolitical relations whereby race and other assemblages of difference are byproducts. He is the author of Inheriting Possibility: Social Reproduction & Quantification in Education (2017, University of Minnesota Press); recipient of the 2018 Outstanding Book Award from the American Educational Research Association. He also co-edited Thinking Comprehensively About Education: Spaces of Educative Possibility and Their Implications for Public Policy (2012, Routledge) as well as co-guest edited “Alternative Ontologies of Number: Rethinking the Quantitative in Computational Culture” (2016, Cultural Studies-Critical Methodologies), “The computational turn in education research: Critical and creative perspectives on the digital data deluge” (2017, Research in Education), “Control Societies @30: Technopolitical Forces and Ontologies of Difference” (2020, Social Text Online), and most recently “Dialogues on Recursive Colonialism, Speculative Computation, and the Techno-Social” (2021, e-flux journal). He is currently working on a book project that examines the haunting formations of the transparent subject in algorithmic governance and the potential for transformative technopolitical systems.
April Dawson is the Associate Dean of Technology and Innovation and Professor of Law at North Carolina Central University School of Law. She received her undergraduate degree in computer science and was a computer programmer before attending law school at Howard University School of Law. After law school, she joined the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice through its Attorney General’s Honors Program. While at the Department of Justice, she argued cases before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits. After two years at DOJ, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Dawson has been a law professor at NCCU Law for more than 15 years. She has taught several courses, including Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, and Torts. She currently teaches in the area of law and technology, including courses on AI, blockchain, and data science. She was recognized as a 2022 ABA Women of Legal Tech and was the 2021 recipient of the AALS Technology, Law and Legal Education Section Award. 
Sonja Ebron Sonja Ebron is a PhD electrical engineer and former college professor with a background in utilities and artificial intelligence. She has represented herself in court numerous times. As CEO at Courtroom5, Sonja has made it her personal mission to empower people to represent themselves effectively in court. She serves on the board of Responsive Law, a national advocacy organization focused on the rights of legal consumers, and on the Leaders Council of the Legal Services Corporation, the nation’s primary funding source for legal aid programs. She is a founding member of the Justice Technology Association, a trade organization for direct-to-consumer legal tech companies and nonprofits. Sonja is a native of Durham and lives in the suburbs with her wife and Courtroom5 co-founder Debra Slone.
Tristan Fuierer has more than fifteen years of experience in the chemical, materials science, biotechnology, and the semiconductor manufacturing arts. Dr. Fuierer focuses her practice on patent preparation, prosecution, opinion work, and patent portfolio management, and has represented a number of large corporations, universities, and start-up companies. Dr. Fuierer also has significant experience with international patent prosecution. Prior to law school, Dr. Fuierer taught Chemistry for four years at Western Carolina University in North Carolina, teaching everything from freshman General Chemistry to Physical Chemistry to graduate level classes. She is presently an adjunct professor of law at the UNC School of Law, co-teaching a patent preparation and prosecution course, and serves on the Board of the UNC School of Law Alumni Association.
JiNan Glasgow George JiNan Glasgow George has built her career from engineering to patent law and investment by transforming ideas into assets and connecting innovators to the resources they need to make positive impact. She believes that everyone has the power to create – and her work globally has focused on transforming ideas into reality and creating positive commercial impact from them. Her recent book The IP Miracle: How to Transform Ideas into Assets That Multiply Your Business is a best seller in its categories on Amazon. A Patent Attorney and former Patent Examiner with the US Patent & Trademark Office, JiNan is an IP practitioner with experience across a wide range of technology fields, serving clients in the US and internationally. She is a registered patent attorney with the North Carolina Bar and the USPTO; she is the founding partner of Neo IP in Durham, NC, USA (www.neoipassets.com). She has worked with clients doing business or investing in the US, Canada, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Europe, India, Brazil, Jordan, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya for strategic patent analysis and the development of intellectual property rights including patents, trademarks, and copyrights for licensing and commercialization globally. JiNan is the CEO and co-founder of.Patent Forecast®, a business intelligence SaaS company that provides insights for investors and executives, serial entrepreneurs and innovators – giving vision ahead of market data using patent data and AI (www.patentforecast.com). Her educational background includes degrees in engineering, law and theology from NC State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Duke University, respectively.
Jasmine Glaspie Jasmine Glaspie is a Tax Manager at Walmart, Inc., an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, department stores, and grocery stores. In her current role, she is responsible for organizing and managing external tax audits, monitoring tax policy developments, and ensuring compliance of tax reporting requirements on behalf of Walmart. Previously, Jasmine worked as a Tax Research Analyst for a tax tech software company, where she conducted complex transactional tax analysis and maintained tax compliance by monitoring legislation and state revenue publications for sales tax updates and impositions. She is a triple alum of North Carolina Central University, having earned her Bachelor of Business Administration (2012), Master of Business Administration (2018), and Juris Doctor (2018) degrees from the illustrious institution. During her time of NCCU School of Law, she interned at the EEOC, State Farm Bank, the North Carolina General Assembly, and was a Student Attorney for the school’s Trademark Clinic. She also served on the Executive Boards of the Business Law Society and the Intellectual Property Law Society. She is licensed to practice law in New York and currently resides in the Triad area of North Carolina, where she works remotely for her organization.
Katia Gondarenko Katia Gondarenko is a business unit attorney at Intel Corporation, based in Santa Clara, U.S. She supports several software technology engineering groups. Katia concentrates on intellectual property licensing, contracts, competitive analytics and marketing matters. Before joining Intel, Katia was an M&A lawyer in New York. Katia has a J.D. from Cornell Law School.
Siobhan Grady Siobahn is the first woman computer science Ph.D. graduate from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (2018). She is an assistant professor of information science/systems in the School of Library and Information Sciences at North Carolina Central University, Program Director for the Information Science program, Lab Director for the Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence and Equity Research (LAIER), Co-Director for the Center fOr Data Equity (CODE), an AAAS IF/THEN ambassador, and an Office e-Learning faculty fellow at North Carolina Central University. Her research focuses on utilizing machine learning to identify sources of misinformation on social media and on improving fault detection in autonomous vehicles. Dr. Grady advocates increasing the number of women and minorities in computer science. She believes that “the STEM workforce has both gender disparities and that of historically disenfranchised groups. As an AAAS IF/THEN ambassador, she affects change by examining girls’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors, helping them gain confidence in curating and developing a STEM identity.” Additionally, Dr. Grady has been featured in museums throughout the nation, has spoken at national and international conferences, serves on multiple boards, and is featured as a statue in the world’s largest exhibit of women’s statues. Technology is the way of the future, and Dr. Grady has a vision for minority girls’ and women’s futures. She realizes that vision by providing educational opportunities through community organizations, philanthropic efforts, college courses, and research grants and publications.
Veronica Hayes Gromada Veronica is a litigator, legal/risk management strategist, and corporate advisor. Her 22-year career includes 17 years with global retailer, Walmart. Veronica supervised one of the largest tort litigation portfolios in the nation and led two of Walmart’s largest in-house legal sections, including a cross-functional team with nationwide and some global responsibilities for discovery—legal holds, ediscovery, data/document collection, witness interviews, corporate deposition preparation—across all single plaintiff, complex and class litigation, government investigations, civil investigative demands and subpoenas. While in-house Veronica was a member of the Information Assurance Subcommittee, and has experience working with technology, privacy, information security, and business teams, and has served on numerous special projects with data analytics professionals. Veronica also serves on the board of ALM Legal Week (formerly LegalTech.)
Philip Hampton Philip G. Hampton, II, a senior partner with more than four decades of experience as an IP lawyer, serves as Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer. In this position, he works collaboratively with the Board of Directors to establish the firm’s diversity and inclusion strategy, including setting and monitoring goals for recruiting, retaining and advancing diverse legal professionals. He leads diversity-related activities and firm resource groups and subcommittees.
Phil has been involved in diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives for most of his professional career. He has mentored dozens of minority and female IP students and young lawyers. While serving as the Assistant Commissioner for Trademark in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) during the Clinton Administration, minority attorneys increased by more than 400%. He proposed innovative solutions to foster diversity and inclusion, for which two of his former firms were awarded the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s esteemed Thomas L. Sager Award. Phil is a former President and Scholarship Committee Chairman of Foundation for the Advancement of Diversity in Intellectual Property Law (FADIPL). In 2016, Phil was the inaugural recipient of the Diversity in Tech Award presented by the IP Section of the National Bar Association. Phil also teaches Trademark Law at Howard University School of Law, where he has served as an adjunct professor for more than a decade. While serving as the Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Phil is an active member of Polsinelli’s Intellectual Property Department. Phil’s decades of experience in patent and trademark litigation, patent and trademark counseling, trademark prosecution, enforcement, maintenance and licensing of all types of intellectual property, are valuable to less established department members. He has been an expert witness in almost three dozen trademark infringement actions and has served as a Special Master in several patent infringement actions for the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Phil has been involved in patent and trademark litigation in U.S. district courts, mini-trials, ITC Section 337 hearings, and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board opposition and cancellation proceedings. He always seeks creative, cost-effective solutions to his client’s legal problems. Phil has prepared, filed, and prosecuted U.S. and foreign patent applications, and he has also prepared opinions regarding patentability, validity, and infringement issues. With his knowledge of the USPTO people and processes, Phil has conducted investigations of “atypical” prosecutions of patent applications within the USPTO. Phil has represented U.S. and foreign clients in many capacities for trademark law, including preparing, filing and prosecuting trademark applications, preparing trademark opinion letters, preparing and filing appeals to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and conducting opposition and cancellation proceedings. Also, during his tenure at the USPTO, Phil oversaw the reengineering of the agency. He promulgated almost 200 Commissioner’s Decisions and oversaw the first new edition of the Manual of Trademark Examining Procedure in almost ten years. Phil received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from MIT and his J.D. degree from the University of Chicago Law School.
Philip Hampton Philip G. Hampton, II, a senior partner with more than four decades of experience as an IP lawyer, serves as Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer. In this position, he works collaboratively with the Board of Directors to establish the firm’s diversity and inclusion strategy, including setting and monitoring goals for recruiting, retaining and advancing diverse legal professionals. He leads diversity-related activities and firm resource groups and subcommittees.
Phil has been involved in diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives for most of his professional career. He has mentored dozens of minority and female IP students and young lawyers. While serving as the Assistant Commissioner for Trademark in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) during the Clinton Administration, minority attorneys increased by more than 400%. He proposed innovative solutions to foster diversity and inclusion, for which two of his former firms were awarded the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s esteemed Thomas L. Sager Award. Phil is a former President and Scholarship Committee Chairman of Foundation for the Advancement of Diversity in Intellectual Property Law (FADIPL). In 2016, Phil was the inaugural recipient of the Diversity in Tech Award presented by the IP Section of the National Bar Association. Phil also teaches Trademark Law at Howard University School of Law, where he has served as an adjunct professor for more than a decade. While serving as the Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Phil is an active member of Polsinelli’s Intellectual Property Department. Phil’s decades of experience in patent and trademark litigation, patent and trademark counseling, trademark prosecution, enforcement, maintenance and licensing of all types of intellectual property, are valuable to less established department members. He has been an expert witness in almost three dozen trademark infringement actions and has served as a Special Master in several patent infringement actions for the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Phil has been involved in patent and trademark litigation in U.S. district courts, mini-trials, ITC Section 337 hearings, and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board opposition and cancellation proceedings. He always seeks creative, cost-effective solutions to his client’s legal problems. Phil has prepared, filed, and prosecuted U.S. and foreign patent applications, and he has also prepared opinions regarding patentability, validity, and infringement issues. With his knowledge of the USPTO people and processes, Phil has conducted investigations of “atypical” prosecutions of patent applications within the USPTO. Phil has represented U.S. and foreign clients in many capacities for trademark law, including preparing, filing and prosecuting trademark applications, preparing trademark opinion letters, preparing and filing appeals to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and conducting opposition and cancellation proceedings. Also, during his tenure at the USPTO, Phil oversaw the reengineering of the agency. He promulgated almost 200 Commissioner’s Decisions and oversaw the first new edition of the Manual of Trademark Examining Procedure in almost ten years. Phil received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from MIT and his J.D. degree from the University of Chicago Law School.
Cherell Harris Cherell Harris is currently a first year Associate at Smith Anderson LLP in the Technology Transactions group where she works on reviewing and drafting contracts for private and public biotechnology, AgTech and technology companies, including master services agreements, licensing agreement, SOWs. She also assists with execution of IP due diligence in M&A transactions. She completed her law school education at North Carolina Central University School of Law as a member of the evening program. She has a master’s degree in Engineering from NC A&T State University and a BS in Chemistry from Spelman College. She is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and certified Project Management Professional. As an active member of the North Carolina Bar Association, she serves as co-chair the Legal LINK subcommittee of the Young Lawyers Division, co-chair of the Communications subcommittee of both the Minorities in the Profession Committee and Intellectual Property Law Section. She had a twenty-five year career in biotech, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing before returning to law school to pursue law as a second career.
John Hardin John Hardin is the Executive Director of the Office of Science, Technology & Innovation. He was appointed Acting Director in 2008 and Executive Director in 2009. From 2003 to 2008, he served as the office’s Deputy Director and Chief Policy Analyst. In his current role he conducts strategic planning and makes recommendations for technology-based economic development, implements technology-related economic development policy and resource allocations, supervises the staff of the N.C. Board of Science, Technology & Innovation, directs and oversees the administration of grant programs to support technology development and commercialization, and oversees strategic initiatives.
From 1998 to 2003, he served as Assistant Vice President for Research and Sponsored Programs in the UNC System Office. From 1998 to 2005, he held an Adjunct Assistant Professor position in the Department of Political Science at UNC-Chapel Hill. From 2006-2018, he was a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Public Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he taught courses on American politics, public policy, policy analysis, and science policy.
A native of Tulsa, Okla., he holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in political science from UNC-Chapel Hill, a B.A. in economics from Baylor University, and a certificate of completion for the Leadership Decision Making program, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. He and his wife Jane live in Durham and have two daughters who are recent college graduates.
Aisha Hasan Aisha is a Partner in the Life Sciences Practice and Co-Chair of the Biotech group. She focuses her practice on the preparing and prosecuting U.S. and foreign patent applications, as well all aspects of complex freedom-to-operate and due diligence reviews and IP transactions. Aisha’s work spans a wide range of technical areas, including immunotherapies, biotechnology, small molecule pharmaceuticals, agricultural biotechnology, and diagnostic assays. Her clients include large agricultural chemical companies, pharmaceutical and biotech companies of varying size, as well as a variety of start-ups and emerging companies. Prior to entering private practice, Aisha worked as a protein chemist at Trimeris Inc. on HIV and RSV research, as well as at the National Institutes of Health’s Laboratory of Structural Biology, where she studied the structure of natural killer cell receptors. Aisha is also skilled in clinical microbiology and virology, and chemical synthesis.
Kareem Howell Kareem is an Associate General Counsel at Thomson Reuters, a multinational provider of business information services, where he supports the Corporates and Tax & Accounting Professionals businesses. Prior to Thomson Reuters, Kareem served for 10 years as the first attorney and General Counsel of Integration Point, a software company based in Charlotte. Kareem started in the practice of law as an Intellectual Property Attorney at a midwest law firm that is now Faegre Drinker. Kareem graduated from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law and has a BS degree in Computer Science from Norfolk State University.
Shaquana Johnson Shaquana serves as Lead Counsel at Meta, Reality Labs working in its Research AR/VR division. Shaquana works on complex technology agreements such as joint development agreements, license agreements and sponsored research agreements to name a few. Prior to joining Meta Shaquana was a transactional attorney at a healthcare technology company and prior to that she was in the clinical research field. Shaquana is a proud graduate of Howard University and NCCU School of law. Shaquana is extremely passionate about DEI and leads Meta Reality Labs’ DEI workstream where she has implemented a first of its kind DEI initiative to be announced in late winter. Shaquana also serves as Chair of the Career Development Committee of the Raleigh Chapter of Association of Corporate Counsel. In her free time she enjoys spending time with her precious son Evan and her family.
Dana Jones Prof. Dana G. Jones, teaches Contracts, Trial Practice and Health Law and is an alumna of North Carolina Central University School of Law. She received her LL.M in Health Law Policy and Regulation from Loyola University-Chicago. Professor Jones actively practices in various areas of health law and technology including, health care policy, regulation, compliance, Medicare/Medicaid payor programs, health plan administration, FDA regulation, health care privacy/HIPAA, and licensing/credentialing. Professor Jones is a certified Mediator and Arbitrator for the American Health Lawyer’s Association. She serves on several health care boards and continues zealous advocacy for various health care initiatives.
Vedia Jones-Richardson is a partner heading the Trademark/Copyright/Transactional Practice Group at Olive and Olive, an intellectual property law firm in Durham, North Carolina, with a practice focused on consumer products, computer, communications, educational, arts, and entertainment clients. Her background includes an undergraduate degree in design, management positions in television, advertising, and software development, law practice in law firms and in-house, and several years as an adjunct professor and USPTO-certified law clinic supervisor. She draws on each of these perspectives to provide insights for solving the challenges faced by her clients. Vedia is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Howard University, admitted to practice in Washington, DC, Illinois, and North Carolina, and is certified as a North Carolina Bar Trademark Specialist. She has served in many bar leadership positions, including in the American Bar Association, as chair of the Law Practice Division and ABA Women Rainmakers, on various ABA commissions for technology and client development issues, as an elected Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and in the North Carolina Bar Association and the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys. She also has been a Fellow in the College of Law Practice Management, a founding board member of InternetBar.org, and has served on the boards of many arts and cultural organizations. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, NY, she also spent several years in Washington DC and Chicago, and now lives in the Triangle Area of North Carolina with her husband and three sons. 
Ben Kastan Ben Kastan is the Associate General Counsel for Cybersecurity at the National Security Agency (NSA). As such, he is the senior legal adviser to NSA’s Cybersecurity Directorate (CSD) and leads the NSA Office of General Counsel (OGC) Cybersecurity Practice Group, a team of military and civilian attorneys who provide day-to-day operational legal advice and counsel to NSA personnel around the world on the full breadth of NSA’s cybersecurity mission, including on-net operations, cryptography, industry engagement, Defense Industrial Base cybersecurity, and information sharing with U.S. and foreign partners. The Cybersecurity Practice Group also advises CSD and other U.S. Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) System elements on the collection, analysis, and dissemination of SIGINT on foreign cyber threats, as well as NSA’s relationship with U.S. Cyber Command. Ben began his NSA career in NSA OGC’s Litigation Practice Group through the NSA Legal Honors Program. He has worked on a wide range of cyber operations issues since March 2016, including as the attorney embedded with NSA’s Computer Network Operations office and the NSA attorney assigned to support the NSA/U.S. Cyber Command Russia Small Group, charged with helping to protect the 2018 elections from foreign interference. He was elevated to the rank of Defense Intelligence Senior Level in May 2021. Prior to joining NSA, he clerked for the Honorable Donna Stroud on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Ben received his J.D. and LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from Duke University School of Law.
Jeffrey Kaufman Jeffrey R. Kaufman is Senior Technology and Open Source Counsel for Red Hat, Inc., the world’s leading provider of open source software solutions. Jeffrey also serves as Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina. Previous to Red Hat, Jeffrey served as Patent and Open Source Counsel for Qualcomm Incorporated and Director of Product Management of Software and Connectivity for Zebra Technologies Corporation. Jeffrey holds multiple patents in RFID, barcoding, image processing, and printing technologies.
Leslie J. Keyes Leslie J. Keyes has worked at the NSA in the Office of General Counsel (OGC) since May, 2017. She is currently assigned to the Operational Authorities practice group and is a member of the team that helps to develop NSA-supported FISA applications that are then filed at the U.S. FISC by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Before the Operational Authorities group, Leslie worked in the Litigation practice group where she handled both civil and criminal litigation matters. Following Litigation, Leslie was assigned to the Law & Policy practice group as the first forward-deployed OGC attorney assigned to advise NSA’s Office of Strategic Communications, which houses its Office of Public Affairs (OPA) and conducts both internal and external public-facing communication-related activities on behalf of the Agency. Leslie obtained her B.A. in Political Science from Tufts University in 1990, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s law school in 1993. She has gathered legal experience on both the state and federal levels and in both the private and government sectors. Prior to working at NSA, Leslie served as a Senior Attorney with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for approximately 15 years, clerked on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Carol S.M. Wells, and served as an administrative law clerk for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor Administrative Law Judges. She also worked as an Assistant D.A. in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office for five years and as an Associate Attorney at the law firm of Mylotte, David & Fitzpatrick in Philadelphia. Leslie is barred in Pennsylvania, Maryland & Washington, D.C. and has one sixteen year-old daughter, Kendall.
Jeff Kelly Jeff Kelly is an emerging technology attorney at Nelson Mullins, and he focuses his practice in areas involving data analytics, digital assets, and FinTech. He works closely with entrepreneurs and companies to effectively navigate changing regulations, government investigations, and complex corporate and securities law challenges. Beyond his practice, Jeff is very active in policy related to law, technology, and access to justice. He is a Fellow with Duke Law’s Center on Law and Technology and serves on the Governing Council of the American Bar Association Center for Innovation. He is also the Immediate Past Chair of the North Carolina Bar Association Future of Law Committee and an advisor to the State Bar on emerging technology and regulatory change issues.
Kevin Lee Prior to joining NCCU, Professor Lee was a tenured, full professor at Campbell University, Norman A. Wiggins School of Law, where he taught corporate law, jurisprudence, and computational law for 15 years. He was the founding Director of Campbell Law Innovation Institute and the Founding Chair of the North Carolina Bar Association Future of Law Committee. In 2017, he was recognized by FastCase as one of the top 50 innovators. Professor Lee was a law clerk to the Hon. Herbert J. Hutton, Jr., US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He was a Foreign Office Lawyer/Associate with a large commercial law firm located in Tokyo, Japan. He holds advanced degrees in Social and Political Ethics from the Divinity School of The University of Chicago, from Colgate University in Philosophy and Religion, and he is a graduate of New York Law School.
Shawna Lemon Shawna C. Lemon, J.D., Ph.D. is a patent attorney, angel investor and diversity advocate. Shawna is co-founder of Stanek Lemon Crouse + Meeks, PA, a majority woman-owned intellectual property law firm. She is admitted to practice law in North Carolina and New York. She is also co-founder of xElle Ventures, an angel fund for women providing loans to female founders and women-led businesses. As an experienced patent attorney and board director, Shawna brings more than 20 years of legal and business experience to various organizations. Shawna’s board service has included: RTP Capital Associates; Dress For Success Triangle; North Carolina Arts in Action; R.O. Harrell Trucking, Inc.; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Visitors; and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Health Foundation. She is also an advisor for several startup companies. Shawna is a recipient of the 2020 Triangle Business Journal Women in Business Award and has been listed in Best Lawyers of America (2015-2023), North Carolina Legal Elite (2014, 2021 and 2022) and Super Lawyers (2021-2023). Shawna has a B.S. from Wofford College, a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina, and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Chris Lewis is President & CEO at Public Knowledge where he leads the nonprofit digital rights organization in fighting for free expression online, an open internet, and affordable access to communications tools and creative works. He has served as CEO since 2019, previously serving as the organization’s Vice President since 2012. He has over 20 years of experience as a political organizer and policy advocate at the federal and local level, including work in the U.S. Senate, the Federal Communications Commission, and campaigns from the local to presidential level. Chris was elected to serve two terms on the Alexandria City (VA) School Board from 2012-2019 and graduated with a bachelors degree from Harvard University in 2002. 
Diane Littlejohn serves as the Executive Director of the Technology Law and Policy Center. She is a 2010 alumnus of NCCU School of Law. In addition, Ms. Littlejohn maintains her private practice, practicing primarily in intellectual property and family law. While at North Carolina Central University, Ms. Littlejohn served as a staff editor on the NCCU Law Review as well as a senior editor on the Southern Region Black Law Students Association Law Journal (SRBLSA). During her time as a student, Ms. Littlejohn published a legal article in the SRBLSA Law Journal concerning presidential security. Ms. Littlejohn has also been featured in publications including, Voyage Raleigh Magazine and Authority Magazine. She is originally from Omaha, Nebraska and spends her free time with her two dogs and enjoys listening to podcasts.
David Lingerfelt is responsible for the North America Tax Content Research teams at Avalara. David’s teams combine tax technical and research skills with advanced automation technologies to provide the tax content that powers Avalara’s North America tax compliance automation suite. David joined Avalara in 2017 with a seventeen-year background in government tax administration including auditing, tax controversy, collections, taxpayer education, and compliance documents processing. David deeply understands the complex compliance obligations businesses face dand is committed to automating this burden. David is a 2014 graduate of NCCU Law and is a licensed North Carolina attorney.
Lara J. Marion Lara Marion is currently the Manager of Public Policy for Amazon’s connectivity team. She leads third party engagement for all connectivity related policy work including Amazon’s Low Earth Orbit Satellite broadband initiative Project Kuiper. Prior to her work at Amazon Lara spent 4 years on Capitol Hill as a Legislative Counsel and lobbied for various organizations including the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, The National Cable Telecommunications Association and AARP. Lara currently resides in Davidson, North Carolina.
Angelica McDonald Angelica McDonald, Esq. has singlehandedly established an in-demand law firm, won several accolades for her incredible work in her community and has her sights set on building a bi-coastal law practice that serves clients from her hometown to Hollywood. She is putting her city of Raeford, North Carolina on the map as the birthplace of the next legal superstar. And she is just at the onset of her career. An astute attorney, Angelica is sought after for her razor-sharp business acumen and her relentless litigation style. With a diverse background in entertainment, media and sports law, as well as business, she represents entrepreneurs and athletes on everything from complex contract negotiation to intellectual property matters, ensuring anything they’ve built is protected. Beyond her work, Angelica is driven by serving her community and seeks every opportunity she can to elevate others to extraordinary. A born leader, she has headed several professional organizations. At North Carolina Central University School of Law, Angelica served as the Vice President of the Student Bar Association and as President of the Sports and Entertainment Law Society. Born and raised in Raeford, North Carolina, Angelica is a member of the legendary Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Management and Marketing from University of North Carolina at Charlotte, a Juris Doctor from North Carolina Central University School of Law and she received a Master of Laws in Entertainment and Media Law from Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, California. She is registered sports agent in North Carolina and with the National Basketball Player Association
Michael Menapace Michael Menapace is the Co-Chair of the Insurance Practice at Wiggin and Dana in Hartford, CT. He is the former Chair of the ABA TIPS Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Committee. Michael is an in-demand speaker and publishes frequently – most recently, he was a co-editor of Cyber Insurance for Businesses, published by the ABA. He represents carriers in complex coverage and trade practice disputes and businesses of all sizes responding to cyber breaches and other incidents.
Luciana Parisi Luciana Parisi is a Professor in Literature and a core Faculty in Computational Arts, Media and Culture at Duke University. She is a founding member of the Critical Computational Bureau. In 2004, she wrote Abstract Sex. Biotechnology and the Mutations of Desire (Athlone Press). In 2013, she published Contagious Architecture. Computation, Aesthetic and Space (MIT Press). She is completing a monograph on AI, epistemologies and the alien thinking of machines.
Alyssa Pearce Alyssa Pearce is an Associate member of the Data Privacy & Cybersecurity Practice of Lewis Brisbois, where she assists clients in preparing for and responding to data security incidents. She graduated from William & Mary Law School, where she held a research fellowship at the Center for Legal & Court Technology studying the legal impacts of emergent technologies. Alyssa has also served as a mentor to teams of Virginia university students prototyping solutions to cybersecurity issues, and interned with a large technology company. Prior to law school she served as the Director of Business Development and a Program Analyst for a defense contracting firm, and as the POS System Administrator for a regional retailer.
Matt Perault Matt Perault is the director of the Center on Technology Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill, a professor of the practice at UNC’s School of Information and Library Science, and a consultant on technology policy issues at Open Water Strategies.
Nichelle “Nikki” Perry currently serves as the Director of the Law Library and an Associate Professor of Law at North Carolina Central University School of Law. Prior to becoming director, she served as the Assistant Director and the Reference Instructional Librarian at NCCU and the Reference/Electronic Services Librarian at the Kathrine R. Everett Law Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Additionally, she served as a judicial law clerk for North Carolina Court of Appeal judge Clifton E. Johnson. Nichelle received her Master of Library Science and Juris Doctor degrees from North Carolina Central University. She serves on several regional and national library committees and is a member of the North Carolina State Bar.
Victoria E. Pugh Victoria Pugh is a proud NCCU alumni who graduated with her J.D. in 2016 where she received the Judge Herbert L. Richardson Award for outstanding service on Law Review. Victoria was the Editor-in-Chief of the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Law Review, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Environmental Law Review. After completing her J.D. Victoria attended Georgetown University Law where she completed her LLM in 2017. Since graduating with her LLM Victoria has worked for Pricewaterhouse Coopers as a State and Local Tax Manager. After spending a year with PwC Victoria had her initial opportunity to start working on technology projects. She actively manages several internal projects to build the digital acumen of the firm. Victoria also works with development teams to build enterprise solutions that provide more useful tools for internal teams working on their client projects. Victoria has since had the opportunity to work with numerous Fortune 500 companies’ tax departments to develop and implement tax automations to streamline state tax compliance processes. Victoria helps clients utilize automations to model state tax scenarios for tax saving and planning measures. With the use of tax technology tools Victoria has helped to reduce the burden of the tax compliance process by streamlining work for large companies impacted by COVID-19, which has resulted in strained resources. Victoria has found that the implementation of data analytic tools like Alteryx, Tableau, Powerbi/Powerquery, Onesource, etc., provides companies with the ability to benefit from new and powerful insight into their data.
Matt Meinel is a compliance consultant focusing on data privacy and information governance. He leverages his legal training and prior IT experience to provide companies with practical, risk-based implementation solutions for privacy and records management programs. Matt has experience with clients across multiple industries, including life sciences, manufacturing, eCommerce, and financial services. He holds CIPP-US and CIPP-E certifications from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and serves in several leadership positions with the Raleigh-Durham IAPP chapter and the NC Bar Association’s Privacy & Data Security Section. 
Nichole P. McLaughlin has been employed as a staff attorney with the North Carolina State Bar since June 2004. Originally from New Jersey, she graduated from Drew University with a B.A. in English. She obtained her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law. As Assistant Ethics Counsel, she gives informal ethics advice to lawyers about their own future conduct via telephone or email, prepares formal ethics opinions and advises the Ethics Committee. Nichole is also the Judicial District Bar Liaison, a role created to improve communication between the State Bar and judicial district bars. Prior to joining the Bar, she was in private practice for five years with Donaldson & Black, P.A. in Greensboro and handled asbestos workers’ comp cases. 
Cedric Pickett Attorney Pickett is a proud 2018 graduate of NCCU School Law. His interests are Data Privacy, Cybersecurity, and FinTech. Before attending law school, Attorney Pickett accumulated over a decade of experience addressing emerging technology at NC State University, Schwab Performance Technologies, and KPIT (formally known as i-Cubed). Attorney Pickett received his undergraduate degree in Technology Education from NC State University. He also received his MBA and JD from North Carolina Central University. In 2020, he received his Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) certification from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).
W. Keith Robinson is a Professor of Law at the Wake Forest University School of Law. Professor Robinson is a nationally recognized patent scholar. He researches how legal institutions govern emerging technology. He has commented on issues of intellectual property law in media outlets and given more than seventy presentations around the world on patent law. Thomson Reuters has twice recognized Professor Robinson’s articles as the best that year in intellectual property law. His recent work has explored how artificial intelligence may impact obtaining U.S. patents. Robinson’s work has been cited in briefs before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the court that hears all appeals in the U.S. arising under the patent laws). The Federal Circuit has also cited his work favorably. His most recent article is published in the Nevada Law Journal. In addition, he has published articles in the Florida Law Review, DePaul Law Review, and the American University Law Review. Robinson graduated from Duke University, earning a BS in electrical engineering. He received his JD, cum laude from Duke University. After law school, he worked for the Washington, DC law firm of Foley & Lardner LLP, where his practice focused on patent law. While at Foley & Lardner, Robinson was an adjunct professor at The George Washington University Law School. Before joining Wake Forest, Professor Robinson was an Associate Professor at the SMU Dedman School of law for ten years. There, he was an Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor, a founding Co-Director of the Tsai Center for Law, Science and Innovation, and Faculty in Residence in Kathy Crow Commons on the campus of SMU.
Laurie Robinson Haden is the President and CEO of Corporate Counsel Women of Color (CCWC), which she created in 2004 to advance women of color attorneys and foster diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession. In addition to her impactful work at CCWC, which now includes helping women of color entrepreneurs scale their for-profit businesses, Laurie served for nearly two decades in multiple leadership roles at CBS Corporation including Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel. Laurie has been recognized by Lawyer of Color as one of the “Top Ten Black Lawyers of the Decade” and by Savoy magazine as one of the country’s “Most Influential Black Lawyers.” Recently, she was honored with the Humanitarian Award by the New York City Bar Association and the United Nations. Laurie has certificates in entertainment media management from New York University and diversity and inclusion from Yale School of Management and Cornell University. She served on the board of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund for seven years and serves on the board of visitors of Indiana University School of Law Bloomington and North Carolina Central University Law School, where she serves as chair of the board. Laurie received her Bachelor of Arts from North Carolina Central University (magna cum laude) and her Juris Doctor from Indiana University School of Law Bloomington.
Zaneta Robinson Professor Zaneta M. Robinson is an Associate Clinical Professor and founding director of the Intellectual Property Law Clinic at Wake Forest University School of Law. She previously directed the Intellectual Property Clinic at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law Institute for Innovation. Before transitioning to academia, Professor Robinson served as an adjunct faculty member at UNC Law while in private practice with an international law firm where she focused on domestic and international trademark clearance, registration, and enforcement. She has extensive experience drafting and negotiating contracts that affect intellectual property rights and representing clients before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Professor Robinson earned her undergraduate degree from James Madison University and her J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law. A member of the North Carolina State Bar and the Supreme Court of the United States Bar, she is also a North Carolina State Bar Board Certified Specialist in Trademark Law and has written and lectured on a variety of topics.
Josh Rowland is a Data Privacy & Cybersecurity Attorney located in Durham, NC and has been in the information security field for 12 years. Josh is a Director of Risk for Fidelity Investments, covering a wide variety of topics, including technology and operational risk, data governance, privacy, and potential suspicious activity monitoring and investigations. Prior to his work at Fidelity, Josh was a police officer for five years and participated in several cyber investigations. Josh also teaches continuing legal education to attorney’s, helping educate them on compliance with ethical obligations to protect client data, how to respond to data breaches, and how to handle operational risks like wire fraud. Josh received his BA in Sociology and Justice Studies from the University of New Hampshire and his JD from North Carolina Central University. Josh has been a member of the North Carolina Bar since 2017. Josh is an avid fisherman and enjoys spending time with his wife and two boys, ages 6 & 9.
Stacey Rowland Professor Stacey L. Rowland came to UNC as the Reference & Digital Communications Librarian with the rank of Associate Librarian in 2015. Her IT expertise, including systems, web design, and network troubleshooting led to the expansion of her role as the IT Services Librarian and then to her current position as the Assistant Director for Collection & Technology Services. She teaches Law Practice Technologies, Electronic Discovery Technologies, and Advanced Legal Research. Her research interests include automation in legal practice, public access to legal information, and legal research innovation. Prof. Rowland holds a J.D., a Masters of Library and Information Sciences and a Masters in History from Florida State University. Prior to her employment as a law librarian, she held Law Clerk positions in the General Counsel’s Office of the Florida Department of Health and in the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Before working at UNC, Rowland was a Public Services Law Librarian for ten years at the University of Mississippi Grisham Law Library.
Peter Singh Pete primarily helps startups, investors, and businesses at all stages of growth with financing, intellectual property protection and licensing, commercial transactions, organization and governance, and other corporate matters. Before Fourscore, Singh worked as an attorney with the Start-Ups practice group at a large regional law firm in Raleigh, which followed an in-house stint with a private equity company in Durham as a corporate counsel and M&A attorney. He started his career with a boutique corporate and entertainment law firm in New York. In his years there, Pete assisted with a wide range of matters including copyright and trademark cases, dispute resolution, contract drafting and negotiation. Outside of the office, Pete serves as an arbitrator, mediator, and professional musician. Whatever the endeavor, Singh strives to deliver on his clients’ needs with his own stamp of polish and precision on every project. 
Allon Stabinsky Allon Stabinsky is senior vice president and chief deputy general counsel at Intel Corporation. He leads the Intel Legal Department, a worldwide organization of approximately 350 talented legal professionals. Before joining Intel, he practiced at the law firm Latham & Watkins LLP as an intellectual property litigator. Allon holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado and earned his law degree from the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law.
Kim Stahl Attorney (NCCU ’04) and IT professional, former CIO, currently working in IT policy and organizational data governance in Higher Ed.
Steven Schwarcz Steven L. Schwarcz is the Stanley A. Star Distinguished Professor of Law & Business at Duke University and founding director of Duke’s interdisciplinary Global Financial Markets Center. His areas of research and scholarship include insolvency and bankruptcy law, international finance, capital markets, systemic risk, corporate governance, and commercial law. He holds a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering (summa cum laude) and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School. Prior to joining Duke, he was a partner at two of the world’s leading law firms, Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School, and Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School. He also helped to pioneer the field of asset securitization. He has been the Leverhulme Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford, Visiting Professor at the University of Geneva Faculty of Law, Distinguished Visiting Professor at University College London (UCL) Faculty of Laws, the MacCormick Fellow at The University of Edinburgh School of Law, the Liberty Fellow at the University of Leeds School of Law, and an advisor to the United Nations. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on topics including systemic risk, securitization, credit rating agencies, and financial regulation, and has advised various governmental agencies on the global financial crisis. He has been recognized for the past two decades as the world’s second-most-cited scholar in commercial, contract, and bankruptcy law. Schwarcz is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, a founding member of the International Insolvency Institute, former Business Law Advisor to the American Bar Association, a member of P.R.I.M.E. Finance’s Panel of Recognized International Market Experts in Finance, and Senior Fellow of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).
Peter Singh Pete primarily helps startups, investors, and businesses at all stages of growth with financing, intellectual property protection and licensing, commercial transactions, organization and governance, and other corporate matters. Before Fourscore, Singh worked as an attorney with the Start-Ups practice group at a large regional law firm in Raleigh, which followed an in-house stint with a private equity company in Durham as a corporate counsel and M&A attorney. He started his career with a boutique corporate and entertainment law firm in New York. In his years there, Pete assisted with a wide range of matters including copyright and trademark cases, dispute resolution, contract drafting and negotiation. Outside of the office, Pete serves as an arbitrator, mediator, and professional musician. Whatever the endeavor, Singh strives to deliver on his clients’ needs with his own stamp of polish and precision on every project.
Sheila Spence Sheila Spence serves as Corporate Counsel at NantHealth, Inc., a healthcare technology company with headquarters outside of Los Angeles, C.A. Previously she worked as a Staff Attorney and Strategic Policy Consultant at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. She provides transactional support for various business areas concerning privacy, data security, technology, corporate, and commercial transactions. She earned the Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) designation from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). Sheila Spence has been honored as the recipient of the Charles F. Blanchard Young Lawyer of the Year Award, by the North Carolina Bar Association (NCBA) Young Lawyers Division (YLD) for her distinguished and meritorious community service to the bar. She currently serves as the YLD Administrative Division Director. Sheila received her bachelor’s degree in English and African American Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed her law degree with honors from North Carolina Central University School of Law. During her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, volunteering with her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and cheering on the Tar Heels during basketball season.
Robert Stines Robert Stines is a Partner in Freeborn & Peters’ Litigation Practice Group and a member of the Emerging Industries Team. He is a trusted advisor in the areas of cybersecurity, privacy, data protection, cyber insurance, e-discovery and emerging technologies. He counsels clients in a range of industry sectors on privacy and data security compliance, information governance, digital marketing, and emerging technology issues. Robert also represents clients in a variety of litigation matters including data breach class actions, fraudulent transfers of funds, business email compromise, contract and insurance lawsuits. He has handled every stage of litigation from pre-suit negotiations, discovery, mediation, motion practice, trial and appeal.
Casiya Thaniel Casiya is the Privacy Trust Communications Director at Workday in the Office of the Chief Privacy Officer. She collaborates with internal stakeholders to ensure customers’ and partners’ concerns are adequately addressed in Workday’s external-facing resources and sales enablement; advocates for Workday and its customers and partners; and supports the CPO with any other internal or external communications and presentations. She joined Workday last year as Legal Director, Associate General Counsel on Workday’s Go-to-Market legal team. As a trusted business and legal advisor, she was responsible for negotiating complex cloud and professional services deals for her clients on the Large Enterprise Sales and Marketing team. Prior to Workday, Casiya was senior corporate counsel on Microsoft’s U.S. Regulated Industries team supporting cloud technology deals for large enterprise customers in the Financial Services Industry. She was also on the v-team for Face Recognition Technology and Microsoft’s legal support for the National Council of Artificial Intelligence for Financial Services. Casiya adeptly manages intricate matters that require her to understand and navigate evolving global laws and regulations and the digital economy. Casiya champions diversity and inclusion initiatives at Workday (called “VIBE”) and is the liaison for corporate relationships with the National Bar Association. Casiya holds a B.B.A. from Howard University, Master’s Certificate in Commercial Contract Management from George Washington University/ESI International and a J.D. from North Carolina Central University. She was selected as a 2020 Rising Star by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association. She is a Certified Information Privacy Professional-U.S. and was a Pathfinder in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) and Fellow in the 2022 class of LCLD. Casiya serves on several boards and advisory councils whose goals extend from serving underserved, underrepresented communities to professionals in their respective fields.
Lee J. Tiedrich Professor Lee J. Tiedrich is the Distinguished Faculty Fellow in Ethical Technology, with a dual appointment at Duke Law School and the Duke Initiative for Science & Society. Building upon her 30 years of practicing law at a leading global law firm and her electrical engineering studies, Professor Tiedrich focuses on developing practical solutions that help enable society to unlock the benefits of data, AI, and other emerging technologies in a trusted manner that also protects fundamental rights and our national security. Professor Tiedrich is an internationally recognized expert in AI and ethical technology law and policy. She is a member of the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) Multistakeholder Expert Group, and co-chair of the GPAI IP Subcommittee and co-lead of the GPAI AI & Climate Steering Committee. She also is co-authoring the first law school case book on Artificial Intelligence law and served on the Biden Campaign Policy Committee. She is a member of the IEEE Planet Positive Sustainability Commons Committee. Professor Tiedrich has written and spoken extensively on AI and emerging technologies, including at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Federal Judicial Conference, the National Judicial College, and other prominent venues. She has served as a peer reviewer for Oxford University Press and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Professor Tiedrich received a B.S.E. in electrical engineering from Duke University (Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi) and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was an adjunct faculty member before joining the Duke faculty.
Jeffrey Tidwell Jeffrey Tidwell, is currently Vice President and Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at ORIC Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to ORIC, I practiced patent law at the Finnegan Henderson firm in their Washington, D.C. office, and at various pharmaceutical and biotech companies, including Pfizer, Santarus, Ignyta, and Synthorx. I have a Ph.D. in chemistry from MIT and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. My practice lies mostly at the intersection between patent law and the Hatch-Waxman Act.
Pegeen Turner is a legal technology consultant based in Raleigh. She has worked with attorneys and their technology both inside and outside of law firms for more than 20 years. Now, as a consultant and president of Legal Cloud Technology, she helps firms integrate new technology into their practices and helps firms update and use their existing technology better. Her firm concentrates on cloud-based technology and moving attorneys and firms toward cloud-based technology. She is also a co-founder of a technology product called myFirmData, a custom reporting tool that integrates with Clio, the leading cloud-based practice management system.
Devon White Devon leads Wyrick Robbins’ IP Prosecution & Protection practice group. She has extensive experience in domestic and international trademark protection and global branding strategies. A substantial part of her practice is in enforcement of IP rights, including opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. She has served as an Adjunct Law Professor at UNC School of Law since 2012 where she has taught Trademark Practice Seminar (2012 – 2021), and where she launched and supervised the IP Clinic – Certified USPTO Trademark Clinic from 2014 – 2019, and again from 2021 – 2022. Devon also taught practical trademark and writing courses at NCCU Law from 2007 – 2014. Devon received her B.A. and M.A. with honors in English from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. She earned her J.D. with honors from the North Carolina Central University School of Law.
REGISTER
October 14-15, 2022
NC Central University School of Law
Durham, NC
Prices range from 75.00 to 450.00 (price depends on options selected)
Cancellation Policy
There is a 100% refund for those who cancel before October 3, 2022. No refunds will be given after October 3, 2022